Consumer Products
Every day countless people are injured by dangerous consumer products. Unfortunately, many of these consumer product injuries can be severe and life threatening. If you have been injured by a dangerous consumer product contact Jacobson Injury Lawyers today. Our knowledgeable, qualified and licensed attorneys can explain your options and discuss whether you may be entitled to compensation. Links to selected product liability matters are listed below.
What Qualifies as a Consumer Product?
When a consumer is injured by a defective product, the law usually provides the injured person with the ability to obtain compensation for their harm from a responsible party. When determining the proper path forward in seeking liability from responsible parties, one preliminary inquiry is to determine if the product is a consumer product or simply a product that causes harm. Although there does not appear to be a difference between something that is a consumer product or something that is just a product that causes harm, the difference has important legal implications.
A consumer product has a specialized meaning for purposes of consumer product liability law. For a product to be a consumer product for purposes of product liability law, the product must be mass-produced, must not be the product of professional services, must have been commercially introduced into the stream of commerce, and must be made available to the general public. If your injury is from a consumer product, you have an easier path to recovery. In some events, a defective consumer product can provide for strict liability which allows injured people to recover without proving that the other party was at fault.
If you have been injured by a product not technically a consumer product for purposes of product liability law, you still have rights and the ability to obtain compensation for your injury. However, a different set of laws apply and different strategies and tactics are required to obtain compensation for your injury.
Consumer Products Lack Standardized Regulation
Consumer products are unique in that there are no set regulations for consumer products. In fact, each consumer product is regulated differently, and some consumer products are not regulated. For example, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regulates car seats and tires, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates cosmetics, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates pesticides and fungicides. However, dietary supplements, which often claim to have medicinal qualities, are technically regulated by the FDA but the FDA does not review any products before they go to market. And some consumer products like household cleaners contain harmful chemicals but are not regulated. Understanding how these products are regulated and the proper judicial channels to obtain compensation for your consumer product injury is important. Regardless of the product that caused your injury or the applicable regulations, the lawyers at Jacobson Injury Lawyers can help explain the regulatory landscape and will provide a free case assessment.
When Is Someone Legally Responsible For Your Product Injury?
Consumer product liability law is one of the most unique subsets of personal injury law. The vast majority of legal liability in personal injury law is based upon a fault system. Generally, to obtain compensation for an injury, you have to prove that the other party caused the injury. After all, the judicial system is premised on fault – people are generally only responsible when they did something wrong. However, in product liability cases, a responsible party can be held liable and forced to pay for your injuries without proving fault.
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Fault Based Liability
Fault-based product liability claims usually claim that the responsible party was negligent. Negligence is legally defined as the failure to take reasonable care to avoid causing injury or loss to another person. It involves a breach of duty of care that results in damage. Negligence can take the form of negligent manufacturing (made with unintended defects), negligent design (designed defective from the start), and negligent marketing (failure to warn of known risks). Regardless of what type of negligence claim is asserted the injury party must show that the other party did something wrong in manufacturing, designing, or marketing the product and that the wrong action was responsible for the injury. Being able to understand how a product was manufactured, designed or marketed and how those actions caused harm is a difficult burden. Fortunately, in certain circumstances, a party can be held responsible without having to prove fault.
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Liability Without Fault
The concept of strict liability allows individuals who have been injured by a defective consumer product to recover damages more easily. If strict liability is applicable, the injury parity only needs to prove that the product was defective and that the defect caused the injury. The injured party does not need to prove that the manufacturer or supplier acted negligently or with the intent to harm. This concept is based on the belief that companies have a responsibility to ensure their products are safe for use. To establish a strict liability claim in consumer product cases (when strict liability is available), the plaintiff typically needs to demonstrate three key elements:
- The Product was Defective: The product must have had a manufacturing defect, a design defect, or a failure to provide adequate warnings or instructions that made it unreasonably dangerous to the user.
- The Defect Existed Prior to Purchase: The defect must have been present at the time the product left the manufacturer’s control, indicating that it was not tampered with or altered significantly by the consumer or a third party.
- The Defect Caused Injury: There must be a direct link between the defect and the injury suffered by the consumer, showing that the injury was a result of using the product as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable way.
Who Can Be Held Responsible?
In a strict liability products case, several parties in the distribution chain of a product can be held responsible for damages caused by a defective product. The principle of strict liability aims to ensure that consumers can seek compensation for their injuries without having to prove the fault of the manufacturer or seller. The parties that can be held responsible include:
- Manufacturers: This includes not only the companies that manufacture the completed product but also those that produce components of the product. If a component of a product is defective and causes harm, the manufacturer of that component can be held liable.
- Distributors: Distributors or wholesalers who are part of the chain of distribution between the manufacturer and the retailer can also be held liable in strict liability cases. Even though they may not have had a role in designing or manufacturing the product, their role in bringing the product to market implicates them under strict liability legal principles.
- Retailers: Retailers can be held liable for selling defective products to consumers. The law recognizes that consumers often have no way to assess the safety of a product and that consumers rely on the retailer to sell safe products. Therefore, even if the retailer had no way to know of the defect, they could still be held responsible under strict liability.
- Others in the Chain of Distribution: Besides manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, other parties involved in the product’s chain of distribution might also be held liable. This can include suppliers, importers, or any intermediaries who are involved in bringing the product from manufacture to sale.
The rationale behind holding these parties responsible is that they are in the best position to absorb the costs associated with injuries from defective products through insurance, prices, or other means and are also in a position to exert pressure for higher product safety standards. Strict liability thus serves as an incentive for safety in product design, manufacture, and distribution, promoting the overall protection of consumers. However, strict liability does not apply in all instances but when strict liability does apply, it can be an effective mechanism to obtain compensation for your consumer product injury.
How The Process Works
Product liability cases are handled differently depending on how many people are injured. If your case is unique and there are not that many instances where the product has caused harm to the general public, your claim will likely be filed in a lawsuit directly against the manufacturer and other potentially responsible parties. Your attorney from Jacobson Injury Lawyers would handle the entire case with the help of experts and perhaps other consulting attorneys.
However, most personal injury claims regarding a defective product are not unique. When someone is injured by a defective product chances are that many other people have suffered a similar injury from that same product. In this situation, lawsuits against responsible parties are filed across the country. This presents practical problems, specifically in that one defendant is required to defend multiple cases in multiple jurisdictions. To save judicial and personal resources, including time and money, the cases filed against the manufacturer can be consolidated in Multidistrict Litigation (MDL).
An MDL is a legal procedure in the United States federal court system designed to efficiently process complex cases that involve multiple plaintiffs across different federal districts who have similar claims against one or more defendants. The goal of an MDL is to consolidate pretrial proceedings to streamline discovery, avoid conflicting rulings, and conserve the resources of both the parties and the judiciary. After the MDL is complete, the individual cases get sent back to their original filing location for adjudication. However, most successful product liability MDL matters are settled in the MDL. If your product liability case has an MDL or will be transferred to an MDL, the lawyers at Jacobson Injury Lawyers can provide quality representation regardless of where the MDL is located. Call Jacobson Injury Lawyers and speak to a qualified attorney about your product liability claim today.
Types of Compensation You May Receive
The types of damages that can be recovered by someone injured by a defective consumer product generally fall into several discrete categories. The exact type and amount of compensation you may receive is unique to your case. However, these damages may include:
- Compensatory Damages: These are intended to compensate the injured party for actual losses incurred. Compensatory damages include economic damages such as medical expenses (both past and future), lost wages or loss of earning capacity, and other out-of-pocket expenses related to the injury. Compensatory damages also include
compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, loss of consortium (the impact of the injury on the plaintiff’s relationship with their spouse), and loss of enjoyment of life. - Property Damage: If the defective product also caused damage to the plaintiff’s property, compensation for repairs or replacement of the damaged property can be recovered under certain circumstances.
- Punitive Damages: Punitive damages are intended to punish the defendant for particularly harmful behavior and to deter similar conduct in the future. Punitive damages are awarded where the defendant’s conduct is found to be especially reckless, malicious, or egregious.
- Wrongful Death and Survivor Damages: In cases where a defective product causes death, the deceased’s family members or estate may be entitled to recover damages through a wrongful death lawsuit. These damages can include funeral and burial expenses, loss of the deceased’s future earnings, loss of companionship, and emotional pain and suffering.
Contact Jacobson Injury Lawyers to Discuss Your Case Today
You may be entitled to compensation if a dangerous consumer product has injured you or one of your loved ones. Consumer product liability cases are challenging and require skilled guidance from a personal injury lawyer. To discuss your case and your rights, contact Jacobson Injury Lawyers and schedule a free consultation today.